Tyler McGee noted in his presentation that the mobile device market continues to grow, although the current global economic slowdown have somewhat lowered the predictions. The growth is more rapid in the converged (multi-functional) devices, which will, according to pre-recession estimates by Nokia would grow by 50% in 2008. In this segment Nokia is an even stronger player holding a more than 50% market share.
Mr. McGee thinks that the rest of the world will catch up with Japan in the next generation (super 3G and 4G) mobile devices. Now it is generally thought that Japan has been about 3 years ahead in the technical development but McGee expects this to be cut to about one year.
The luncheon was ended with a very active Q&A session.

Ambassador Jorma Julin and Tyler McGee exchange views before start of the lunch.

Tokiko Horiuchi of Metso Paper Japan presents the book she has written about Finland.

A guest from Finland; Olli Loytynoja from Oulu Innovation Ltd.

Mika Mäkinen introduces the speaker.

Mr. McGee starts his presentation by asking how many of the particiants use a Nokia handset.

He jokingly noted that seems that the market share inside the room ws far higher than outside it...

The event at Hotel Okura was attended by 36 members and guests.

Are the current economic conditions causing concerns at the top table, or just concentrating on the presentation? From left; Kimio Hashida, Olli Loytynoja, Kaj Forsell, Timo Varhama, Ambassador Julin, Yukio Sakurai and Isao Nishimura.